{{Short description|American writer (1909–2003)}} {{Infobox person | name = Whitfield Cook | image = | caption = | birth_name = George Whitfield Cook III | birth_date = {{Birth date|1909|4|9}} | birth_place = Montclair, New Jersey,<br>United States | death_date = {{Death date and age|2003|11|12|1909|4|9}} | death_place = Lyme, Connecticut,<br>United States | death_cause = | spouse = Elizabeth Heiskell Cook | relatives = John N. Heiskell (father-in-law) | occupation = Writer | children = George W. Cook IV }}
'''George Whitfield Cook III''' (April 9, 1909 – November 12, 2003) was an American writer of screenplays, stage plays, short stories and novels, best known for his contributions to two Alfred Hitchcock films, ''Stage Fright'' and ''Strangers on a Train''. He also wrote scripts for several TV series, including ''Suspense'', ''Climax!'' and ''Playhouse 90''.<ref name="imdb">{{cite web | url=https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0177336/ | title=Whitfield Cook - IMDb | website=IMDb | accessdate=2013-05-26}}</ref>
==Life and career== George Whitfield Cook III was born on April 9, 1909, in Montclair, New Jersey, the son of engineer George Whitfield Cook Jr., and his wife, the former Hortense Heyse. He began writing short stories as a child and later cited Walter de la Mare and Virginia Woolf as major influences.<ref name="gottlieb">{{cite web | url=http://hgar-srv3.bu.edu/collections/collection?id=121798 | title=Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center | accessdate=2013-05-27 | archive-date=2016-08-04 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160804071035/http://hgar-srv3.bu.edu/collections/collection?id=121798 | url-status=dead }}</ref> He attended and graduated from the Yale School of Drama.
Cook began his career as a writer in the late thirties with stories in ''The American Mercury'', ''Story'' and ''Cosmopolitan''.<ref name="mcgilligan">{{cite book|last=Mcgilligan|first=Patrick|title=Alfred Hitchcock: A Life in Darkness and Light|year=2012|publisher=HarperCollins|isbn=978-0060988272|page=364}}</ref> One of these stories, "The Unfaithful," won an O. Henry Award in the "Best First-Published" category in 1943.<ref name="ohenry">{{cite web | url=http://www.randomhouse.com/boldtype/ohenry/0999/winnerslist.html | title=Bold Type: O. Henry Award Winners 1919-1999 | accessdate=2013-05-27}}</ref>
In the early forties, Cook wrote a series of stories for ''Redbook'' about a precocious teenage girl named Violet who helps to untangle her father's love life.<ref name="redbook">{{cite web | url=http://www.philsp.com/homeville/fmi/d665.htm#A22569 | title=Chronological List | accessdate=2013-05-27}}</ref> In 1944 he dramatized these in a play called ''Violet''. The play, which Cook also directed, only ran on Broadway for 23 performances,<ref name="belasco">{{cite web | url=http://www.playbillvault.com/Show/Detail/10855/Violet | title=Violet on Broadway - Information, Cast, Crew, Synopsis and Photos - Playbill Vault | accessdate=2013-05-27}}</ref> but it starred Patricia Hitchcock as Violet, and brought Cook to the attention of her father, Alfred Hitchcock.<ref name="mcgilligan" />
In 1945, Cook headed to Hollywood, where he was partnered with Ann Morrison Chapin on a trio of film scripts that starred June Allyson. He made his debut with the romantic comedy ''The Sailor Takes a Wife'' (1945) and followed with the psychological drama ''The Secret Heart'' (1946) and the wartime romance ''High Barbaree'' (1947).<ref name="gottlieb"/>
Cook then worked with Hitchcock and his wife, Alma Reville, on ''Stage Fright'' (1950) and ''Strangers on a Train'' (1951). Cook's treatment for ''Strangers on a Train'' is usually given credit for heightening the film's homoerotic subtext (only hinted at in the novel) and the softening of the villain, Bruno, from the coarse alcoholic of the book into a dapper, charming mama's boy.<ref name=mcg442>McGilligan, p. 442</ref>
For his work on ''Stage Fright'', Cook was nominated for a 1951 Edgar Allan Poe Award in the Best Motion Picture category.<ref name="edgar">{{cite web | url=http://www.theedgars.com/edgarsDB/index.php | title=Edgar Award Winners and Nominees Database | accessdate=2013-05-26 | archive-date=2018-09-27 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180927165310/http://www.theedgars.com/edgarsDB/index.php | url-status=dead }}</ref>
For the remainder of the 1950s, Cook worked in television, contributing scripts to series such as ''Studio One in Hollywood'', ''Suspense'', ''Front Row Center'', ''Playhouse 90'', ''Colgate Theatre'', ''Climax!'', ''Have Gun – Will Travel'' and ''77 Sunset Strip''.<ref name="imdb"/>
Cook wrote four books: * ''Violet'', 1942, a collection of the ''Redbook'' stories<ref name="abebook">{{cite web | url=http://www.abebooks.com/book-search/author/whitfield-cook/ | title=whitfield cook - AbeBooks | accessdate=2013-05-27}}</ref> * ''Roman Comedy: An Impolite Extravaganza'' (published in paperback as ''A Night with Mr. Primrose''), 1951, a novel about a film star who travels to Italy to make a movie<ref name="abebook"/> * ''Taxi to Dubrovnik'', 1981, a novel about three idle, vacationing Americans traveling by hired car from Athens to Dubrovnik.<ref name="kirkus">{{cite web | url=https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/whitfield-cook/taxi-to-dubrovnik/ | title=TAXI TO DUBROVNIK by Whitfield Cook | publisher=Kirkus | accessdate=2013-05-27}}</ref> * ''A Choice of Disguises'', 2003, a novel<ref name="disguises">{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fawlAAAACAAJ | title=A Choice of Disguises: A Novel - Whitfield Cook - Google Books | isbn=9781567150780 | accessdate=2013-05-27| last1=Cook | first1=Whitfield | year=2003 | publisher=CfP Press }}</ref>
==Legacy== In the 2012 film ''Hitchcock'', Cook was portrayed by Danny Huston as a charmer trying to persuade Hitchcock's wife, Alma Reville, into having an extra-marital affair during the filming of ''Psycho''.<ref name="ign">{{cite web | url=http://www.ign.com/articles/2012/11/14/hitchcock-review | title=Hitchcock Review - IGN | date=2012-11-14 | accessdate=2013-05-26 | author=Vejvoda, Jim}}</ref> Several published Hitchcock biographies document this as accurate from Cook's private diaries.
New Dramatists annually bestows a Whitfield Cook Award to a playwright for the best unproduced, unpublished play, as determined by a jury.<ref name="award">{{cite web | url=http://newdramatists.org/content/178609112011 | title=Whitfield Cook Award | accessdate=2013-05-26}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== {{Portal|Biography|Film|Literature}} * {{IMDb name|0177336|Whitfield Cook}} * {{IBDB name}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cook, Whitfield}} Category:1909 births Category:2003 deaths Category:20th-century American novelists Category:American male screenwriters Category:American male novelists Category:David Geffen School of Drama at Yale University alumni Category:Novelists from New Jersey Category:Writers from Montclair, New Jersey Category:American male short story writers Category:20th-century American dramatists and playwrights Category:American male dramatists and playwrights Category:20th-century American short story writers Category:20th-century American male writers Category:Screenwriters from New Jersey Category:20th-century American screenwriters